Assessing Team Culture: Look Beyond Just Upward Interactions

A note to young leaders.

Take care not to judge the cultural fit of a new team member by basing it solely on their interactions with you.

We humans are political creatures. We are innately good at managing up. A more reliable test of character is how they interact with peers and subordinates.

That’s why at EG, we insist that our annual performance reviews include anonymous assessments from at least two peers and one junior member of the team.

When it comes to assessing the health of your culture, train yourself to see the world from the eyes of the most junior members of your team.

A person who is respectful to you but dismissive of junior team members, is not a good team member.